One Way Or Another You Will Pay (19 page)

I
always thought Warren looks like my brother Ritchie, but I may be wrong. Now that I’ve seen Tom’s other son.

After
they leave the room, there is a short silence between us, the three of us having witnessed an uncanny sight – Tom has two sons and they are holding hands right now.

I
snap out of it and gesture for Ingrid to sit.

Sasha…it’s
hard for me to utter her name, but ...

She
tucks her face into Ingrid’s armpit. When she looks at me, I see her features clearly. She looks more like her mother – beautiful olive skin that usually is the result of interracial unions, honey coloured eyes that dominate her cute face, and straight brown hair. No doubt in my mind, she’s going to be a looker when she grows up.

Another
weird moment for me. Tom’s daughter in my home.

Bear
tears his eyes away from Sasha. “Would you like something to drink, Ingrid?”

“Some
water, please,” she whispers, her voice hoarse, a weary look on her face.

Bear
looks at me.

“Just
water,” I murmur.

He
nods and leaves the room.

“I’m
sorry,” Ingrid says, tapping her teeth with her knuckles, her face spasming.

“It’s
okay, Ingrid. I hold nothing against you. Really, I don’t. I must admit, I don’t like what you did, what you put our family through, but I have no desire to punish you if you cooperate, because …” I let out a long sigh, “because I firmly believe that you have been punished by Tom. I’ve been in your situation and I guess I relate to it. ”

“Thank
you,” she says as she fights back tears.

“Besides,
you’re here now.”

Bear
re-enters, bearing two glasses of water. “So tell us more,” he says as he hands her a glass of water. “Let’s start off with the cut on Savannah’s hand.”

With
a gasp, she hangs her head. “Oh, God, I didn’t have a choice. He didn’t …he…he refused to pay my mortgage for three months even though he had money. The bank was foreclosing and I…Ohmygod! I was in a state. I didn’t know what to do. Where do I go with my two children if I lost my house? So I did what he asked.”

Bear
nods his understanding. “What did he ask?”

“Well,
the first time I entered your house through your back door. It was unlocked. I took your knife from your fishing box. When I returned a few days later, I took…eh, I took Savannah, and I eh, I cut her here.” She points to her arm.

I
cringe at the thought of her cutting my baby’s hand with an unsanitary fishing knife.

She
turns to look at me. “Just a tiny bit. More like a scratch.”

I
nod, wanting her to continue.

“Then,
when I took her downstairs, I threw the knife in the garden for the police to find it. Tom, he…he told me what to do, how to do it, planned everything. I followed orders.”

“Savannah
didn’t cry when you cut her?” Bear asks, an incredulous look on his face. “When you took her?”

Ingrid
smiles and wags her finger at Bear. “I thought about that in advance.” She points to Sasha. “She likes band aids. So I thought Savannah would like them as well. I kept a few in my pocket and the moment I cut her, I quickly applied a band aid on the cut and I gave her one. She was more interested in the band aid than the pain!” She laughs.

We
don’t.

Bear
grunts at the carpet, while I bite my tongue. How dare you hurt my baby? How dare you smile when you talk about it?

“I’m
sorry,” she says, sans smile, her voice genuine with apology. “I really am. I had…I …” Her shoulders slump.

“Tell
us more,” Bear says in a moving-on voice, ignoring her apology. “How did you get past the roadblocks? I mean, the whole of the North shore was in lockdown. Almost…”

“I
was
stopped,” she declares.

Bear
and I look at her with open mouths.

“But
I had Sasha and Warren with me. So the cop who stopped us, he saw me with three children and he waved me on.”

We
stare at her, dumbfounded.

“I
had three baby seats in the car and a knitted hat with black curls over Savannah’s head. You know the hats you sometimes get with dreadlocks attached to it? That kind of hat. Tom said the cops would be looking for a blonde baby.”

All
Bear and I can do is look at each other.

“When
I left your house, I gave her a syringe of Paracetamol syrup. That made her sleepy and kept her quiet.”

“Wow!”
I say from behind my hand.

“Go
on,” Bear says. “Tell us how you entered our house. There was no forced entry.”

“When
I entered your house days earlier, I took a set of keys from the bowl on your entrance hall.” She reaches into her bag, pulls out a bunch of keys, and hands it to Bear, a sheepish look on her face.

Bear
’s turn to say, “Wow!”

“When
I left, I locked the door behind me. Tom told me what to do. Gave me a checklist, which I followed.”

“I
took photos of your house, lots of them, and gave them to Tom. The inside, the outside…”

“So
he knows the layout,” I mutter, my hands on my head.

She
nods.

I
look at Bear. “When he comes for me, he’ll know his way around.”

“For
Warren,” she corrects.

Bear
looks at me, but it looks like he’s looking past me.

“When’s
he planning to escape?” Bear asks, his eyes turning into slits.

“Next
Friday. It’s all planned.”

“You
have to stop him!” I say to Ingrid, panic dredging over me, the graveness of the situation crystallizing. “He’ll kill me. I know that for sure. That’s his aim, Ingrid. He wants to kill me. Oh, God!”

She
nods as I talk as if she expects him to. “But if you tell anyone, no one will believe you,” she says. “And Rodney and Rogers, they’re in charge at Remington; they’ve got Tom’s back. He’s their Golden Goose; what do you expect? They’ll just watch him carefully and prevent it. But sooner or later…”

“I
have an idea,” Bear says.

Ingrid
and I turn to look at him.

“Ingrid,”
he says, leaning in toward her, “We won’t go to the cops, so you don’t go to prison, but, you have to do
exactly
as we say, okay? Don’t mess with us, don’t cross us, don’t play games. Right now, all it takes for you to be locked up is one phone call from us. But it is out of kindness and empathy that we chose not to. Yeah, we may very well regret this, but it’s a chance we’re prepared to take, okay?”

Her
head bobs. “Sure. Absolutely.”

He
nods. “Now, what do
you
want to do?
Tomorrow,
if you could? What would you like to do?”

Her
shoulders sag and tears fill her eyes.

“I
wanna go home,” she says, in a voice that reminds me of Amy when she’s in tears.

“Okay,
I will arrange it,” Bear says, in a voice he uses on Amy when she’s in tears. “How and when, Ingrid, I don’t know right now. But it will happen, if you trust us. We want to rescue you from that bastard because we believe you need rescuing.” He jerks his chin at Sasha, who now is playing with the buttons on her mother’s black, golf t-shirt.

Ingrid
nods, tears streaming down her face and falling into her cleavage.

Little
Sasha wipes away her mother’s tears. “Don’t cwy, Mummy, don’t cwy.”

Sweet.

When Ingrid regains her composure, we continue our plans.

“Listen,”
Ingrid says, “you don’t want to mess with Rogers and Rodney. Don’t try to blackmail them with what you know. They have a lot to protect and they will come after you if you mess with them. They will
find
a way to get you inside and then you
will
be at their mercy. That …” she looks Bear in the eye, “is one of Tom’s fantasies. To get you inside, behind bars, at their mercy.”

Bear
nods, then shrugs. “He came close. I was about to be locked up for Savannah’s kidnapping.”

Ingrid
visibly cringes. “Sorry.”

“Back
to the escaping.” Bear gestures for her to go on.

“Okay,
after escaping, he will stay a week at the house in Granville, Lawdy street, remember that house?”

We
nod.

“That
one. I paid them a grand and another after Tom leaves them. That’s the deal. They will lend him their white Mazda, which he will use to drive to you. After he gets Warren, he will come to me, I’ll be at Gordon Station, waiting in my car for him with my two kids, so that if we are stopped by the cops, it will look like we’re a family. We will dump the Mazda and Tom will torch it. I will then call Lawdy Street and they will report the Mazda stolen. I will drive Tom and Warren back to Lawdy Street, where he will spend the next week. Until he leaves the country. ”

“Who
are these people in Lawdy Street?” I ask.

“An
old couple. Former prisoner’s parents who Tom helped once. William. He owes Tom, so Tom’s cashing in his favor. Plus, Tom knows stuff about William that can send William back to prison so …” She lifts and drops her shoulders. “The husband is semi-blind and the old lady, she’s battling cancer. They’re scared of Tom. Scared he will send William back to prison, then who would look after them?”

So
my baby was held for three days by a former convict. The thought of it gives me chills.

I’m
confused as to why Tom’s helping her so much. As if she’s reading my mind, she answers. “He’s planning to go to South Africa, using William’s identity. He’ll lie low for a couple of months. But after that, he’s going to fly to Jakarta to be with me and my kids. I have to help him out there.”

My
mind races. It’s all planned. Why is she here? Can I trust her? Is she playing us? I mean, she’s inside my home right now, what if I can’t trust her? A chill runs through me.

“So,
Ingrid,” Bear says as if reading my mind, “I have to ask; you have it all planned. Why come to us now?”

She
thinks before she answers. “I don’t want to go to prison.” She jerks her chin toward me. “She gave me twenty-four hours to come clean. I thought about it and I’m feeling overwhelmed with all that’s happening. I feel like I’m going to have a nervous breakdown if I continue with Tom and …if I go to prison, what happens to my babies?”

She
releases her toddler and covers her face with both hands.

“I
want out,” Ingrid says from behind her hands. “I wanna go home to my mother.”

Little
Sasha tries to pry away her mother’s hands off her face.

“You
could have gone any time,” I say. “Why didn’t you?”

“Because
I owe too much money on my mortgage. Even if I sell it, I’ll only have enough to pay the bank. I won’t even have enough money for plane tickets. Also, how would I manage with no money and two little kids in Jakarta? I came here because I couldn’t get work there.”

“How
much do you owe on this house?” I ask.

“$680,000.
Something like that. I will probably get less because of the market. Will definitely owe the bank some money. My house was appraised at $590,000 two months ago.”

My
mind races. I can help. I can buy this house off her for $680,000 and give her a hundred grand to take home.

With
the money I stole from Tom, I bought seven rental properties, each just under a million. They bring in good returns. Bear and I don’t chase money, so I’m happy to help her.

When
I look up, Bear is looking at me. I don’t have to wonder what he’s thinking, I know that he’s on the same wavelength as me.

“I
will buy this house from you for the amount owing on the mortgage and I will give you one hundred grand when you’re leaving for Jakarta,” I say.

Her
eyes grow huge. “Yooooou, would do that for me? After what I did?”

With
a nod, I continue. “And… I will pay for your
one
-way flights to Indonesia.”

She
clamps both her hands over her mouth, her eyes full with tears.

“When
I wouldn’t kidnap Savannah, Tom cut me out. Stopped making me money, stopped talking to me, just cut me out of his life. The whole night would go by and he wouldn’t talk to me. Pretended like I wasn’t there. After I took Savannah, Tom gave me the outstanding arrears amount and I was able to pay the bank and keep my house. He will punish me if I cross him for sure.”